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God’s Love

Christmas

The Greatest Gift Of All

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As we head into the festive season this year things feels a little different still … Nevertheless, our families and friends, are a special part of our celebrations. We look forward to gathering together to catch up with those we don’t see often (now more than ever). We enjoy our time together and look forward to giving and receiving gifts.

It’s a time when we can all get caught up in the excitement of the season and lose ourselves in the festivity of it all. Our supermarkets tempt us with cut price offers of boxes of sweets, biscuits and chocolates. Christmas puddings, cakes and mince pies, which made their appearance in early October!

I wonder how many people in our increasingly materialistic world will think about the birth of Jesus Christ. Almighty God, in His love for mankind, sent us all a marvellous gift – the gift of His Only Son, the pathway to salvation for those who trust in Jesus and in God, his Father.

The story is simple. God chose Mary, a virgin, to be the mother of His beloved Son. The angel Gabriel was sent to tell Mary.

“Then the angel said to her, “… you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest … The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:30-32, 35

So Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of his ancestor King David as it had been foretold many years before by the prophet Micah.

“….. Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel.” Micah 5:2

This humble birth sends an amazing message to us all. The All Powerful God chose to give us the gift of His Only Beloved Son Jesus, our Saviour and King, born as one of us, to reveal God’s character and His plan of salvation.

Jesus born in Bethlehem lived a perfect sinless life. He is our Saviour and High Priest who, by his death, is the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all who try to follow his example.

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that:

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15

So, as we look forward to Christmas, we must always remember why Jesus was born and give our grateful thanks to God for His Gift, Jesus the Saviour, as the apostle Paul did “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15

Quotations from New King James Bible

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You can have the greatest love of all… if you choose it!

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 February, the month when cards, roses and chocolates appear in our stores for Valentine’s Day. Restaurants advertise special meals. Many enjoy the gifts and expressions of love they receive. We all want to be loved and we blossom when we feel secure in the knowledge that we are indeed loved by those we love in return. Sadly human love inevitably passes away.

 Those who follow Christ follow a crucified and risen Lord who defined love by his sacrifice. This amazing gift of love should prompt Christ’s followers to consider how they may love and serve others. They should not expect others to serve them in return.

In the history of humankind there is only one Man who deserves to be made much of, to be worshiped and celebrated every waking moment, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the one who was entitled to be adored but instead chose to be abhorred, despised, and rejected, a man of sorrows, bearing our griefs and sins. “…he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)*

Rights forfeited, griefs and hardship accepted, putting others’ needs before our own. This is the way of true love. Human love will so often fail us and leave us disappointed and disillusioned.  

 Why not search for the true love shown by God and Jesus? By deciding to try to understand this everlasting love it will lead us to put others before ourselves. A love willing to sacrifice its wants, desires, and dreams for the joy of others. A love of the glory of God, not of the glorification of self.

Before we can truly love others, we must first  love God.  Such love for others can only be developed by understanding the nature of God’s love towards humankind.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)

The only ones who can  truly love are born of God and know God. Without understanding God’s love in sending Jesus to be a sacrifice for our sins, we are not capable to give out such  love to those in our lives. “…while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person….God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:6-8)

“We love because he (God) first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

While we were still sinners, Jesus loved us. When we had done nothing for Him, He loved us. His love for us is shown in his sacrifice on the cross. Jesus, by his death, opened up the way to everlasting life to those who truly try to follow him. Only the heart that treasures this love is capable of giving it out. To love, not to get but to give, not to use, but to be used.

To receive the love of God is to accept our bankruptcy. We have nothing good to our name, only sin. We deserve death but by the love of Christ we are spared. So when it comes to our relationships, we must put to death any thoughts of entitlement. ‘I deserve better’ has no place in the mind of a Christian. “For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

It’s far too easy to focus on what we think others should do for us, especially those who are closest to us. When they fail to meet our expectations we are tempted to punish. Remember that in the hour we were most undeserving, Christ died for us. So when those we love let us down, we must put to death our preferences, our selfish ambitions, our desires and wants.

So, let us be reminded of who we are. We are sinners with a Saviour, Jesus,  children with a Heavenly Father, beggars with an abundance of treasure, entitled to nothing, yet possessors of everything. We are learning to be free from self. We try to love unreservedly. As such, we can reject cultural ideas about love and about what we deserve. We can believe in our God and Jesus who are more than enough for us, today, tomorrow and every day.

In  God and His Son Jesus Christ alone true love is found, and through them alone true love is given.

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Forget about ‘New Year, New You’ … God loves you just the way you are!

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It’s a little like being Cinderella. The moment the clock strikes midnight everything changes. Except that rather than rags to riches we go from feast to famine, and instead of losing a shoe we lose the will to live.

The minute New Year’s Eve turns to New Year’s Day a peculiar change takes hold of the world as we know it. It throttles us until we bend to its will: NEW YEAR, NEW YOU.

Adverts that preached excess and indulgence at Christmas swiftly change their tune to discipline and determination. Bookshops mutilate their gift and humour displays, leaving in their wake dieting and de-cluttering manuals.

It is like falling victim to cultural whiplash. One minute we are festive, family-orientated and telling ourselves to be merry and bright. The next we are told we are nowhere near thin, pretty or talented enough. In the blink of an eye we have become desperately in need of a total lifestyle overhaul.

We fall for it every year, even though it makes us miserable. It’s another sales tactic. We know it, yet our fingers inch towards the self-help pages as if they have a mind of their own. Surely we realise that we aren’t striving for God’s ideal?

God didn’t create the world to breed jealousy, dissatisfaction and self-hatred. Jesus didn’t rise from the dead to sell something. No! He is GIVING us something. Not something we dare ask for because the gift of everlasting life is too great, and certainly not stocked in the John Lewis catalogue.

He gives us GRACE.

Yes, I find it difficult too. In a world where self improvement is an art form, where people have built their livelihoods on making us feel inadequate, where we are defined by our weight, our Facebook friends, Instagram likes and bank balances, it seems implausible that God loves us just the way we are. All he asks for in return is our commitment of obedience, faith and love.

Everywhere we look in the story of our Saviour this message is repeated.

We do not have to be strong: The apostle Paul wrote, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)

We are not made whole by great works or achievements: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

We don’t have to transform: “No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:11)

‘New Year New You’ may be a good tag-line, perhaps an even better sales pitch, but it cannot buy you happiness, hope, or a happily ever after.

Our happily ever after lies not in guilt, or sacrifice, or resolutions, but in the acceptance of grace, to allow our imperfect selves to be loved, just as we are, by our Creator and his Son, who died, that we may live.

Quotes NIV

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